- 1 hour ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00In the realm of snow and ice,
00:06water transforms into nature's most powerful sculptor.
00:13From fragile snowflakes
00:16to towering glaciers.
00:19It shapes landscapes
00:23and lives
00:26driving epic journeys.
00:30Extraordinary adaptations.
00:34And crowning rulers.
00:39This is the magic of frozen water.
00:54Take a dive into our planet's mesmerizing world of water.
01:00From the monumental open ocean to the rugged coasts that serve as the dividing line between two worlds.
01:12From the changing rivers that carve through continents to mysterious lakes and swamps.
01:25Immerse yourself in the magic that unfolds.
01:31As we reveal the secrets of our enchanted waters.
01:38The secrets of our enchanted waters.
01:53Water shapes life in the most unexpected ways.
01:56When seasons change and temperatures plummet, water takes on its mightiest persona.
02:11Building frozen empires and influencing everything in its path.
02:13Water in its solid state even has the power to create an entirely new species and then turn it invisible.
02:30This female polar bear is conserving her energy.
02:43Water in its own way.
02:44She has thrived throughout the long, dark winter.
02:48But now, as temperatures steadily rise, her kingdom of ice is disappearing.
02:55She needs to make the most of the frozen water while she still can.
03:10Soon, the sea ice will melt along with her hunting advantage.
03:14Even the greatest apex predators struggle to find the motivation to get going.
03:26But her inertia is not due to the cold.
03:30She was born for these conditions.
03:34Her ancestors diverged from brown bears.
03:50When a small population was trapped in the north as the ice age descended.
03:56They had to adapt to survive.
04:01And fast.
04:07Over the next 500,000 years,
04:11the frozen realm gradually transformed those brown bears
04:15into the polar bears that now roam the far north.
04:18The iconic Arctic residents we see today are the result of one of the fastest evolutionary changes amongst all mammals.
04:37To endure the deep freeze,
04:40wandering foragers became masterful hunters.
04:44Forged by ice.
04:47And guided by instinct.
04:51Lumbering land animals were streamlined to fit their new semi-aquatic lifestyle.
05:07And to combat the cold, extra layers of fur grew with a crucial additional feature.
05:15Each hair has a hollow core, offering life-saving insulation.
05:23As a result, their ancestral brown fur lost its pigment and turned translucent.
05:32Blending in seamlessly with their winter wonderland.
05:35Now, having perfectly evolved to life in the Arctic,
05:48this polar bear needs the sea to freeze over,
05:52so she can use the ice as a platform for hunting her primary prey.
05:57But, as it begins to fracture,
06:02just finding food is a monumental challenge.
06:08She may have to swim hundreds of miles in search of a meal.
06:14Hundreds of miles in search of a meal.
06:27Until, finally, she picks up a scent.
06:30A bearded seal hauled out on an ice floe.
06:36The melting ice means her journey across the sea may be more unstable.
06:44But it also offers her the opportunity for an ambush.
06:59for an ambush.
07:16Her sleek shape makes her an efficient swimmer.
07:19with her huge, paddle-like paws pushing her silently through the water.
07:28She can't risk being spotted.
07:33Her smooth movements mimic the floating ice.
07:47Silently, she fully submerges in the water.
07:53And swims under the ice.
07:55for the ultimate sneak attack.
08:02Even an ice queen can't win every time.
08:24With one shake of her water-resistant fur, she'll be dry in no time.
08:44Every failed hunt costs her valuable energy.
08:48And time is running out.
08:50When summer peaks, most of her ice will disappear.
08:55And she'll be forced to return to dry land.
08:59Left to scavenge whatever scraps she can find.
09:03Until the freeze returns.
09:08This seasonal thaw brings hardship for the polar bears.
09:12But every year, it is this great melt
09:16that breathes life back into the Arctic.
09:20Igniting an entire food chain.
09:31For much of the year, the Arctic is a frozen wilderness.
09:39But beneath the ice lies a hidden secret.
09:42One secret.
09:45Waiting for the sun to unlock its potential.
09:49After the darkness of winter, spring approaches.
09:56It's still well below freezing.
09:59But the daylight hours are getting longer.
10:03And the sun's force is increasing.
10:05Then, a pivotal moment arrives.
10:06And the balance is tipped.
10:08The sun's power becomes just strong enough to set off a chain of events that will bring new life to the Arctic.
10:10Underneath the sea's frozen surface, the ice has been stained green by algae.
10:11A tiny marine plant.
10:13A tiny marine plant.
10:14and the balance is tipped.
10:18The sun's power becomes just strong enough to set off a chain of events
10:24that will bring new life to the Arctic.
10:30Underneath the sea's frozen surface, the ice has been stained green by algae, a tiny marine plant.
10:38Like all plants, they use photosynthesis to turn sunlight into food,
10:48which in turn stirs another creature from its winter torpor, the copepod.
10:58These tiny marine crustaceans, less than a tenth of an inch long, rise up from the depths.
11:08Despite their diminutive size, these creatures are the key to all life in the polar regions.
11:17They devour the algae in their millions.
11:23This transfers the sun's energy to the copepods,
11:26where it's stored in their bodies as a fatty oil.
11:38Now, locked beneath the ice within the copepods,
11:42lies a store of pure bottled sunshine, waiting to be released.
11:47Above the water, the sun continues to melt the surface ice,
11:57slowly unlocking the pantry door.
12:02Fish are the first to arrive, to feed on the abundant copepods,
12:07and then the largest predators join the feast.
12:24The sun's life-giving energy now flows throughout the food web, all triggered by the great melt.
12:32This explosion of life will fuel the arctic residents during the summer months,
12:42until the big freeze returns, and the waters fall silent once again.
12:53Frozen worlds can rise...
12:55...and fall with the changing temperatures.
13:04But when the snow arrives early, being caught in last season's wardrobe could be fatal.
13:10It's late autumn in Norway, among the changing leaves of the forest.
13:24This stoat is prepping for winter.
13:29He doesn't hibernate, but needs to store some emergency rations, just in case.
13:35He has time. Highly attuned to the dwindling daylight hours,
13:42his internal clock will warn him when change is coming.
13:46But this year, winter arrives unseasonably early.
14:08Taking everyone by surprise.
14:10And it seems some creatures like surprises.
14:26As fun as it is, there is a problem.
14:44The early snow has caught the stoat unprepared.
14:48As he ventures out to look for food, his brown fur stands out against the white.
15:00Making him an easy target for his greatest foe.
15:06The golden eagle.
15:07He needs a costume change.
15:20Stoats have the remarkable ability to turn completely white in winter.
15:27To blend in with their changing surroundings.
15:30But it's not the arrival of snow on its own that triggers the change in color.
15:42It's actually the length of the day.
15:47As the days shorten, he produces more melatonin, which changes the way his fur grows.
15:54Meaning his transformation is usually perfectly timed.
16:08But now, the sudden change in weather sends the melatonin within his body into overdrive.
16:16Speeding up his molt.
16:18First, he waits for the thicker white hairs to grow.
16:28Before he sheds all of his brown fur.
16:37While he molts, he's neither one color nor the other.
16:43So he needs to remain wary.
16:46Oops, still not quite ready yet.
16:55His makeover is complete.
16:59As white as pure snow.
17:03And hard to spot.
17:06He's even changed his name.
17:08Now he's known as ermine.
17:14He still has the black tip to his tail.
17:19This acts as a useful decoy for predators.
17:23So he's keeping it.
17:24Now fully camouflaged, he can safely continue his search for food.
17:36Snow can influence coat color throughout the Arctic.
17:41But could winter white be going out of fashion?
17:44The ice worlds of our planet's wild north have helped create one of nature's most charismatic shapeshifters.
17:59The Arctic fox.
18:06Like the stoat, this female has already changed her coat for winter.
18:11She is equipped for survival in the most changeable environments.
18:24As the frozen brown earth of the tundra turned white,
18:27So did she.
18:32Becoming a ghost in the snow.
18:34The ice and snow have demanded a thicker winter coat to protect her against low temperatures.
18:53But winter brings other challenges.
19:08The snow that conceals her also buries her prey.
19:16Finding food beneath layers of ice and snow takes...
19:20A different approach.
19:33No luck today.
19:39But this hunter is also happy to scavenge.
19:46The border where the tundra meets the unfrozen sea.
19:50It brings new opportunities.
20:01She scours the beach.
20:05The ocean never fails to deliver tasty morsels to this shoreline, whatever the season.
20:14But she's not the only one looking for leftover seafood.
20:20She seems to be the only one looking for the monster.
20:23Another Arctic fox.
20:26A perfect shadow of herself.
20:28Despite the snowfall, this fox never turns white.
20:40He's what's known as a blue morph.
20:49He's the same species, but a genetic mutation means his coat only ever turns different hues
20:55of a grey-brown color.
21:01This is his domain, and he's not one for sharing.
21:11She'll have no luck on this stretch of beach.
21:17In this salty habitat, snow rarely lingers.
21:22Her white coat, which camouflaged her so well on the tundra, now works against her.
21:38Whereas the blue morph's coloring, tailor-made for this ice-free environment, gives him a
21:44unique evolutionary edge.
21:50And the numbers of his kind are on the rise.
21:56As climate change increasingly disrupts nature's calendar.
22:03White might no longer be the most fitting color here.
22:08The blue morph fox has inadvertently prepared itself for a future where snowfall could become
22:18more unpredictable.
22:25The transformative power of snow is extraordinary.
22:32The collective force of trillions of individual ice crystals, each one uniquely crafted.
22:40As water freezes, the sorcery begins, creating long icicles, vast sheets, huge blocks, and some
22:57of the most beautiful and delicate patterns in the natural world.
23:06Blue flakes appear, seemingly, out of thin air.
23:11Their fleeting, ephemeral nature is what makes them so magical.
23:18Each ice crystal is a one-of-a-kind phenomenon, shaped by its origin story.
23:30It all begins high in the atmosphere, within a cloud.
23:38When water vapor encounters frigid temperatures, the individual droplets cling to a microscopic
23:45dust particle found floating in the air, and start to freeze.
23:56And as each dust particle is shaped differently, so are the foundations of every snowflake.
24:08More water molecules then freeze around this core, creating the framework for a tiny ice masterpiece.
24:20It extends outwards, naturally forming a six-armed lattice, the snowflake's signature shape.
24:33Each branch lengthens with every minuscule addition of water, its intricacies fashioned by subtle variations.
24:47Dancing within its cloud, it encounters pockets of air with different temperatures and densities, which also influence the snowflake's form and design.
24:59Some grow slender needles, others bloom into star-shaped crystals.
25:08By each taking a different journey, their identities are finessed into something unique.
25:17It takes a billion, billion water molecules to make a single snowflake.
25:31As they continue to grow bigger and heavier, gravity eventually wins, pulling them towards the earth.
25:44Gracefully falling together, their arms intertwine, forming fluffy clumps of snow.
25:53Snowflakes are one of nature's true marvels.
25:57And when they settle, blanketing the landscape, wildlife is forced to find imaginative ways to escape the cold.
26:06In the depths of winter, Yellowstone National Park falls silent.
26:22Each year, over nine feet of snow envelops this vast volcanic landscape.
26:33Its sprawling forests and plains transform, now locked in a deep freeze.
26:40For the wild residents, life grinds to a halt.
26:46Food vanishes.
26:51Trails disappear.
26:56There's only one group of municipal workers who can get this snow-bound town up and running again.
27:03Bison are nature's snow ploughs.
27:09This female is the leader of the convoy.
27:19Her job, creating roads in the snow.
27:28Broad and muscular, driven by powerful neck muscles and extra-long vertebrae, she ploughs through even the deepest drifts.
27:37With every swing of her head, she uncovers buried treasure.
27:50Grasses locked beneath the snow.
27:54And as they clear the snow to graze, their tracks become Yellowstone's winter highways.
28:13Benefiting the community.
28:26Coyotes eagerly follow the trail.
28:28And deer nibble vegetation exposed by the bison.
28:43And smaller inhabitants can roam again.
28:49The matriarch drives her way towards Yellowstone's geothermal basins.
29:02Here, the Earth's heat melts the snow.
29:07Revealing expansive grasses and mineral-rich soils.
29:12Other bison herds gather, heading towards the volcanic warmth.
29:30Together, they are the caretakers of this wilderness.
29:37Along with snow clearing, their grazing and scattering of nutrients leave behind a healthier ecosystem.
29:46Come spring, thanks to their work, bison-grazed areas will regrow faster and stronger.
29:55Glaciers have been weaving their magic across our planet for billions of years.
30:10Shaping everything in their path.
30:14These slow-moving rivers of ice flow to the rhythm of a deeper passage of time.
30:25Sculpting the land on their relentless march onwards.
30:33They are the keepers of 70% of Earth's fresh water.
30:39Gravity slowly propels them downhill.
30:45Gouging out lakes and valleys in their wake.
30:52Their faces tell the story of their long lives.
30:58A tapestry of dark deposits reveals their journey through land and time.
31:07While their jagged spines chronicle a lifetime of melting and refreezing.
31:13In contrast, their rarely seen underbelly is as smooth as glass.
31:30Over eons, the glacier's colossal weight has slowly compressed snow layers into clear, solid ice.
31:42Allowing light to travel deeper within its core, producing a luminous turquoise glow.
31:52Some glaciers, like this one, have a hollow heart.
32:00When temperatures warm, the glacier's outer layers start to melt.
32:16Droplets flow down through tiny cracks.
32:23Forming streams of meltwater that bleed from their midst.
32:30Carving out glimmering ice caves.
32:35Although glaciers have always given way to seasonal fall, their melting is now accelerating at an alarming pace.
32:47As the world gets warmer, ancient waters once frozen in time start to cascade from land into sea.
33:06Causing sea levels to rise.
33:13Land to flood.
33:16And storms to intensify.
33:23These towering giants are vital to the health of our planet.
33:28Holding fresh water locked in ice for hundreds of thousands of years.
33:34While many still stand firm today, their future remains uncertain.
33:42Ice can bring even the mightiest rivers to a standstill.
33:57Each winter, parts of the Mississippi freeze over.
34:02Trapping the unwary beneath its glassy surface.
34:08But one creature's demise becomes another's lifeline.
34:16As the shallow backwaters thaw, opportunity arises.
34:23And for one smart parent, it's the moment they've been waiting for.
34:37While late winter may seem an unlikely time to lay their eggs, these bald eagles know better.
34:46For this feisty midwestern mother of two, it makes perfect sense.
34:55She finds it easier to keep her brood warm in the cold season than it is to keep them cool in the heat of the summer.
35:06Plus, there's another big advantage.
35:13As the frozen river cracks under the strengthening sun, it reveals the ultimate winter bonus.
35:21A wealth of frozen fish.
35:26Starved of oxygen beneath the ice, they now float to the surface.
35:33It's perfectly preserved.
35:36The only catch?
35:38Every other parent in the neighborhood has had the same idea.
35:42Time to get pushy.
35:45Time to get pushy.
35:50She can't afford to go home empty handed.
35:54But as the ice continues to retreat, more victims of the frieze rise to the surface.
36:09Ready for collection.
36:24This fleeting moment of abundance, delivered by the frieze and unlocked by the thaw, makes winter nesting a success.
36:43As it fuels her chick's incredible growth.
36:50In just two months, they'll be strong enough to fledge, ready to take to the skies.
36:58Like their mum.
37:02In nature, timing is everything.
37:09Further north, a creature's imminent journey could hold the power to shape our planet's future.
37:18In the far reaches of Scandinavia, the approach of snow and ice is about to kick start a migration on a truly immense scale.
37:32As the first flakes of snow arrive, it serves as a signal for these reindeer.
37:47Over the past summer months, this herd, mostly mothers and calves, have gorged on these coastal pastures.
38:00But now, their real challenge is about to begin.
38:05For over 10,000 years, snow has dictated their winter migration.
38:10The oldest and wisest of the herd will lead them across the landscape.
38:27And along the way, the influence of water, in all its forms, continues to shape their destiny.
38:35Norway's fjords, ice cold and up to 4,300 feet deep, hide a maelstrom of undercurrents.
38:52She has made this crossing before.
38:58But for the calves, it's their first experience of deep water.
39:05Reindeer are built for snow and ice.
39:09But frigid, choppy water like this poses the most serious threat.
39:15Her instincts tell her to wait for calmer conditions.
39:26When the weather breaks,
39:30she makes the pivotal decision
39:32and steps forward.
39:34The others cautiously follow her lead.
39:35The fjords' strong currents and near-freezing waters are still treacherous.
39:49But reindeer are strong swimmers.
39:53Their powerful, athletic legs and wide, concave hooves propel them through the water.
40:00But the crossing is long.
40:06As fatigue kicks in,
40:10the calves struggle.
40:13Their small bodies fighting the currents.
40:16And the cold.
40:17The weary herd just need one last push.
40:19To reach the shore.
40:23To reach the shore.
40:24To reach the shore.
40:30The weary herd just need one last push to reach the shore.
40:54This year, every member has survived the crossing.
41:21Finally, they arrive at the high plateaus.
41:30Here they can feast on the carbohydrate-rich lichen hidden just under the snow.
41:43It's the seasonal rhythm of the Arctic ice that guides the reindeer to these highlands.
41:52As they travel across the vast landscape, their appetite plays a crucial role in maintaining
41:59the balance of not just their ecosystem, but the entire planet, too.
42:10Throughout the year, as reindeer graze, they trim back grasses and shrubs, preventing them
42:16from taking over the tundra, allowing snow to settle unbroken in a shroud of pure white.
42:29Rather than absorbing the sun's rays, this snow blanket acts like a giant mirror, reflecting
42:36the solar heat back into space.
42:40Known as the albedo effect, this simple act keeps the Arctic cold, which in turn creates
42:48more snow to deflect more heat.
42:57And when these cooler temperatures are mixed with the warmth of the tropics, it helps stabilize
43:02our global temperature.
43:04It's vital that the poles retain their snow cover for as long as possible each winter.
43:16And driven by the ice itself, these reindeer are playing their part.
43:24Every step they take echoes far beyond their frozen realm to safeguard this blue planet we
43:32all share.
43:37The water, from ice to ocean, is our most dynamic force of nature.
43:50Life on Earth simply wouldn't exist without it.
Be the first to comment